Lady Marsha Fitzalan | |
---|---|
Born | Marcia Mary Josephine Fitzalan-Howard 10 March 1953 |
Occupation | Actress |
Spouses | |
Children | 3 |
Parent(s) | Miles Fitzalan-Howard, 17th Duke of Norfolk Anne Constable-Maxwell |
Lady Marcia Mary Josephine Fitzalan-Howard (born 10 March 1953), known as Marsha Fitzalan, is an English actress.
Born in 1953, Marcia FitzAlan-Howard was the third daughter of Major Miles Fitzalan-Howard, 17th Duke of Norfolk and his wife Anne Constable-Maxwell. She was named after her mother's great-grandmother Marcia Vavasour and educated at the Convent of the Sacred Heart, Woldingham, Surrey. In 1975, her father became Duke of Norfolk, due to the death of a second cousin whose children were all daughters, and she became Lady Marcia.
FitzAlan has been married twice. Her first marriage was to English actor Patrick Ryecart on 4 July 1977. The couple met at drama school, The Webber Douglas Academy, and had three children: Mariella Celia (born 1982), Jemima Carrie (born 1984), and Frederick William Hamlet (born 1987). The two elder children are both married. Fitzalan and Ryecart divorced in 1995.
In June 2007, FitzAlan married her second husband, Nicholas George. [1]
She was a sister-in-law of Sir David Frost, his widow being her elder sister, Lady Carina FitzAlan-Howard. Her brother is the current Duke of Norfolk and Premier Peer of England; another sister, Lady Tessa, married the 5th Earl of Balfour and is the mother of Lady Kinvara Balfour, an English playwright. [2]
She trained at the Webber Douglas Academy. [3] Fitzalan had a varied career in television and film, her outstanding performance being Sarah B'Stard in the television comedy satire The New Statesman . Other television roles included appearances in Upstairs, Downstairs , Shelley , Nancy Astor , The Professionals , Brush Strokes , Goldeneye: The Secret Life of Ian Fleming , Spymaker: The Secret Life of Ian Fleming , Murder Most Horrid , Midsomer Murders , Under the Hammer and Poirot: Evil Under the Sun. The Booze Cruise with Martin Clunes, Winter Solstice.
Films include Being Julia with Annette Bening, Importance of Being Earnest and An Ideal Husband with Rupert Everett.
She has stood in for the Queen during rehearsals of the State Opening of Parliament. [4]
Duke of Norfolk is a title in the peerage of England, and is the premier non-royal peerage. The seat of the Duke of Norfolk is Arundel Castle in Sussex, although the title refers to the county of Norfolk. The current duke is Edward Fitzalan-Howard, 18th Duke of Norfolk. The dukes have historically been Catholic, a state of affairs known as recusancy in England.
Edmund Bernard FitzAlan-Howard, 1st Viscount FitzAlan of Derwent, known as The Honourable Edmund Fitzalan-Howard between 1855 and 1856, Lord Edmund Fitzalan-Howard between 1856 and 1876, and Lord Edmund Talbot between 1876 and 1921, was a British Conservative politician and the last Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He was the first Roman Catholic to be appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland since the 17th century, holding office when Ireland was partitioned into Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, was an English nobleman and politician. He was a second cousin of Queen Elizabeth I and held many high offices during the earlier part of her reign.
Elizabeth de Mowbray, Duchess of Norfolk was an English noblewoman and the wife of Thomas Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk.
Edward William Fitzalan-Howard, 18th Duke of Norfolk,, styled Earl of Arundel between 1975 and 2002, is a British peer who holds the hereditary office of Earl Marshal and, as Duke of Norfolk, is the most senior peer in the peerage of England. He is also the titular head of the House of Howard.
Henry Granville Fitzalan-Howard, 14th Duke of Norfolk, was a British peer and politician. He was hereditary Earl Marshal and the last undisputed Chief Butler of England.
Major General Miles Francis Stapleton Fitzalan-Howard, 17th Duke of Norfolk, was a British Army general and peer. He was the eldest son of Bernard Fitzalan-Howard, 3rd Baron Howard of Glossop, and his wife Mona Stapleton, 11th Baroness Beaumont. In 1975, he inherited the Dukedom of Norfolk from his second cousin once removed, making him the premier duke in the Peerage of England.
Henry Charles Howard, 13th Duke of Norfolk,, styled Earl of Surrey between 1815 and 1842, was a British Whig politician and peer.
Georgina Susan Fitzalan-Howard, Duchess of Norfolk, is the ex-wife of Edward William Fitzalan-Howard, 18th Duke of Norfolk.
Edward George Fitzalan-Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Glossop PC, styled Lord Edward Howard between 1842 and 1869, was a British Liberal politician. He served as Vice-Chamberlain of the Household under Lord John Russell from 1846 to 1852.
Patrick Geoffrey Ryecart is an English actor.
Margaret Howard, Duchess of Norfolk was the sole surviving child of Thomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of Walden, and Lady Elizabeth Grey, herself the daughter of Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset, and his wife Margaret Wotton, therefore Margaret was a niece of Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk and first cousin of Lady Jane Grey.
Mary Katharine Mumford, 15th Lady Herries of Terregles was a Scottish peeress and the second of the four daughters of the 16th Duke of Norfolk and The Hon. Lavinia Strutt.
Mona Josephine Tempest Fitzalan-Howard, 11th Baroness Beaumont, Baroness Howard of Glossop, OBE was a British peer.
FitzAlan is an English patronymic surname of Anglo-Norman origin, descending from the Breton knight Alan fitz Flaad, who accompanied king Henry I to England on his succession. He was grandson of the Seneschal of the Bishop of Dol. The FitzAlan family shared a common patrilineal ancestry with the House of Stuart.
Joan de Beauchamp, Baroness Bergavenny was an English noblewoman, and the wife of William de Beauchamp, 1st Baron Bergavenny of the Welsh Marches.
Elizabeth Fitzalan, Countess of Arundel, Countess of Surrey, was a member of the Anglo-Norman Bohun family, which wielded much power in the Welsh Marches and the English government. She was the first wife of Richard FitzAlan, a powerful English nobleman and military commander in the reigns of Edward III and Richard II. She was the mother of seven of his children, and as the wife of one of the most powerful nobles in the realm, enjoyed much prestige and took precedence over most of the other peers' wives.
Mary FitzAlan, Duchess of Norfolk was an English noblewoman, translator of the English language, and wife of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk
Mary Arundell, Countess of Arundel, was an English courtier. She was the only child of Sir John Arundell of Lanherne, Cornwall, by his second wife, Katherine Grenville. She was a gentlewoman at court in the reign of King Henry VIII, serving two of Henry VIII's Queens, and the King's daughter, Princess Mary. She was traditionally believed to have been "the erudite Mary Arundell", the supposed translator of verses now known to have been the work of her stepdaughter, Mary FitzAlan, later the first wife of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk.
Theresa Jane Kerr, Marchioness of Lothian, 16th Lady Herries of Terregles is a British aristocrat and philanthropist. Wife of the 13th Marquess of Lothian, in 2017, she inherited the Scottish title Lady Herries of Terregles from her sister, Mary, thus making her and her husband one of few couples who each hold a hereditary peerage in their own right.